PANO – Located 20km from the provincial city of Hoa Binh, Thac Bo Temple and Thac Bo Cave have become favourite spiritual tourism destinations of pilgrims across the country, due to their amazing natural scenery.

Bo Temple was built in 1431 in Hoa Trang commune in commemoration of the contributions of Dinh Thi Van, a H’mong ethnic minority woman and her Dao ethnic minority friend who had encouraged locals to raise food and help Le Loi’s troops in the fight against foreign invaders. 

After their death, locals called them Thac Bo Queens and built a temple in Thac Bo Lake’s heart in acknowledgement of their contributions. In 1979, the temple was moved to a higher place in Cao Phong district’s Thung Nai commune and Da Bac district’s Vay Nua commune to give space for the construction of Hoa Binh hydroelectric dam. Annually, the locality holds a three-month long festival starting on the seventh day of the first lunar month in commemoration of the contributions of the two women.

Thac Bo Lake. Photo: Thuy Duong

Although the temple is not big like others, it lures visitors’ attention with a collection of 38 statues of different sizes and spectacular and poetic landscape around it. In the lunar New Year festival, every day the place attracts thousands of pilgrims to pay tribute to the two women and pray for a happy and prosperous year.

Another famous place is Thac Bo Cave in Bung hamlet, Ngoi Hoa commune, Tan Lac district, which was recognised as a national scenic relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in 2009.

The fabulous cave offers visitors the full experience of cool and fresh air and natural beauty of magnificent and spectacular stalactites of different sizes and shapes, formed over hundreds of thousands of years. Inside the cave, there is a rest place for tourists and an area to worship for Buddhists, those who worship other gods and to pay respect to Uncle Ho.

In the dry season, visitors have to climb 100 stone steps from the foot of the mountain to the cave’s entrance but in the rainy season, bamboo rafts take them straight to the cave’s mouth as the water in Thac Bo Lake rises up there. From there, travelers can enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the area, the masterpieces of nature, and the greatness of mountains. 

Together with Thac Bo Temple and Thac Bo Cave, tourists can visit other attractive places, such as Trach stream, Bo floating market on Sunday mornings, Ngoi Hoa cave, Hoa Binh hydroelectric dam in Hoa Binh province and enjoy delicious dishes, like grilled fish, roasted chicken, meat, boiled bamboo shoot, fine “Tao meo” (a kind of apple in north-western provinces of Vietnam) cider and boiled vegetables.

Source: tuoitre

Translated by Tran Hoai